Asset Allocation – Page 213
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Features
Pension funds to boost markets
Ukraine, the second biggest country in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) after Russia, is the latest in implementing a World Bank-style three-pillar pensions system. A long-term strategy for pensions reform was developed back in 1998 by PADCO, a contractor for USAID; the company subsequently won USAID’s tender for a ...
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Second half slowdown on cards
The economic recovery is broadening. The US and Asia remain the two engines while the Euroland is accelerating even if it is still lagging. Profit margins keep on rising in the US and Japan. It is bottoming in Euroland but some improvements are expected. So far, the profit cycle is ...
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Growing case for diversifying widely
Greater diversification, a broader opportunity set and on average a higher information ratio might in summary be the case for allocating to global fixed income. If equity volatility wasn’t enough of an inducement, asset/liability modelling also favours bonds over equities. With low yields, and expensive domestic long bonds, investors are ...
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Church fund guided by divine prudence
One of the main Pensionskassen in Germany is Berlin-based VERKA which was founded in 1924 by the Evangelical Church and today provides pensions for all of the country’s church employees. According to figures published by the German regulator BAFin, VERKA’s asset total of just over E1.5bn at the end of ...
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It will be different this time
German investors are beginning to draw their breath again. Especially now that they think they know where the equity markets are, but the pain equities caused is not forgotten. The bolt hole of fixed income is where many investors bunkered down but this space could be growing increasingly uncomfortable on ...
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Doubts dispersing
While considerable slack remains in the Japanese economy, there are also strong signs of sustainable recovery as years of corporate restructuring start to pay dividends. So first the bad news: in its most recent monthly Report of Recent Economic Developments published in February, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) commented that ...
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Protecting portfolios from downside
Portfolio insurance enables investors to limit downside risk while allowing some participation in upside markets. There are a large number of methods of portfolio insurance. The most widely used one is the CPPI (Constant Proportion Portfolio Insurance) developed in the 1980s. The CPPI method allocates assets dynamically over time. The ...
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Europe still a runner
After a strong and sustained recovery in Euro-zone equities that started last year, asset managers are now asking how long has the recovery yet to run. The answer will depend to some extent on valuations. Are Euro-zone stocks still fairly valued or has the recovery made them too expensive? Catherine ...
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Feathering their own nests?
Germany’s 603 Abgeordneten (members of parliament or MdBs) preside over a nation dejected at the prospect of the gradual erosion of their statutory pension system. Some observers suggest that the generosity of the MdBs’ pension scheme simply adds insult to injury. Currently the monthly salary for an MdB is E7,009. ...
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French warm to new plans
When France underwent its major pension reforms last year, all eyes were on the big issue of public sector change - the hurdle on which French governments had stumbled badly in the past. That the government finally won its battle for actuarial equivalence between public and private sector pensions with ...
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Liquidity and risk transfer
Is there – in reality – something that can be called a hedge fund with defining characteristics? If so do they apply to everything that are now called hedge funds? Hedge fund activities are very broad. They have characteristics that are defining such as they sell securities short as well ...
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Features
Pensions wait in West Wing
Alan Greenspan is not just the Federal Reserve chairman. He’s become a Washington wise man whose influence extends far beyond monetary policy. So it took his congressional testimony at the end of February to remind all American politicians that social security urgently needs to be fixed. Up to that point, ...
